The Ultimate Trip™Maldives holidaycame with a free snorkelling session – one of the few things that prised Lenny and Lara Dawson from the All Inclusive bar. Fanie, the perfectly toned guide,explained coral bleaching. Lenny and Lara exchanged blank looks. They walked out a few paces,trying to protect their feet from the crunching dead shards, before donning their fins and taking their first tentative breaths underwater. Lara pulled up and snorted when she forgot to exhale through her mouth instead of her nose. This amused Lenny no end, but both were disappointed at the ghostly algae-stripped structures harbouring only a few hardy fish.

“I expected better,” Lenny complained as they splashed their way back onto the beach. “It’s all white. We didn’t clock up 10,000 Air Miles for this.” Continue reading →